Oregon State Football

Oregon State Football: Most Valuable Player Countdown - #24 Jay Irvine

Will the sophomore corner bounce back in 2017?

By Joe Londergan@joehio_ Aug 2, 2017, 1:00pm PDT

#24 Jay Irvine - Cornerback

Coming into his sophomore season, #6 Jay Irvine hasn’t had much of chance to show us what he can really do. After arriving in Corvallis in 2015, Irvine immediately took a redshirt to learn the system amidst a position group heavy with juniors and seniors. When the 2016 season rolled around, the Jacksonville, Florida native looked set to be a regular contributor to the defense. He played in the first four games of the season accumulating six tackles and earned his first start in a loss at Colorado.

It was in that game against Colorado that Irvine suffered a season ending injury to his shoulder after a separate shoulder injury kept him to limited reps in the preseason. Now with the new season on the horizon, Irvine is back in strong contention for a starting spot alongside Dwayne Williams and Kyle White.

At 6’1” and just under 200 pounds, Irvine has a size advantage over both Williams and White. He’s also hitting the gym like crazy, as Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated dictated in his Freaks List for 2017. Here’s what Feldman had to say about Irvine:

“The Florida native has excellent size for a corner at 6’1”, 201, but it’s his hops that really stands out. This off-season Irvine vertical jumped 43 inches. He also broad jumped 10’7” and squatted 500 pounds—2.5 times his body weight.”

The former track star has as much athletic ability on this roster and he showed some serious promise prior to his injury. For those reasons, we think his chances are good to see the field quite a bit, even if it’s in the nickel spot.